When young people end up in youth-custody centres like the one in Victoria, it鈥檚 too easy to dismiss them as 鈥渂ad kids.鈥� A new study by the McCreary Centre Society suggests that many of them suffer from abuse and horrific home lives from an early age.
It鈥檚 not surprising to learn that many of them came from troubled families and a majority had been in foster homes, but it鈥檚 shocking to find that 87 per cent had experienced the death of someone they were close to.
About 34 per cent of them had lost someone to violence, 32 per cent to suicide and 30 per cent to overdose. For 70 per cent of them, at least one family member was involved in crime; for 29 per cent, that family member was a parent.
That is a lot of trauma for someone who hasn鈥檛 yet started junior high school, but it only hints at the forces pulling their lives apart.
Many had histories of abuse or suicide attempts. Health issues, mental-health issues and substance abuse were common.
What made a difference in their health and optimism about the future was feeling connected 鈥� to community, to family, to an adult who cared about them.
Certainly there are some young people, as there are some adults, who cannot be turned away from crime. But the majority of those in custody got there after a tortured start in life.
We could steer them down a constructive path if we could help them find supportive relationships before they go down the wrong road.
